In-fighting at one of the San Gabriel Valley's biggest career-tech programs could put an end to 60 percent of specialized classes being offered at 10 area high schools, and has resulted in 40 teachers being placed on notice for possible fall layoffs.

Classes in computers, the healthcare industry, graphic design and accounting designed for students looking to enter the job market instead of a four-year college are being threatened by a funding dispute precipitated by the Hacienda La Puente Unfied School District, the largest district in the San Gabriel Valley.

On March 1, Hacienda La Puente sent a letter to the cooperative known as the La Puente Valley Regional Occupation Program saying it wants out, angering board members from the other two districts: Rowland Unified and Bassett Unified.

"Either they are bluffing, or they are trying to put Bassett and Rowland's backs up against the wall," said Bassett and ROP school board member Paul Solano.

On Tuesday, the ROP board, which is made up of two board members from each of the three districts in the joint powers authority, will discuss HLPUSD's intent to withdraw from the organization, Solano said.

Although estimates vary, most agree that HLPUSD puts in about 60 percent of the funding to the La Puente Valley ROP, with RUSD contributing 30 percent and Bassett about 10 percent. Because the bulk of the funding comes from the large La Puente-Hacienda Heights school districts, the ROP may not be able to absorb such a big hit.

"If they do pull out, the ROP won't exist," Solano said Monday.

HLPUSD last year withheld $1.2 million from the ROP, saying it was subsidizing classes, teachers and administrative overhead that benefitted the other two districts.

This is an inequitable funding mechanism, said Cindy Parulan-Colfer, HLPUSD deputy superintendent.

"By the end of this year, we are supposed to pay them $2.8 million yet they've only budgeted (classes) worth $988,000," Parulan-Colfer said. "The funds allocated by Hacienda should be targeted to Hacienda students. "

ROP Superintendent Esperanza Fernandez disagrees. She said Paulan-Colfer's numbers are made up and do not reflect reality. Fernandez also says that the long-standing ROP is not about divvying up the pie but about serving a regional student population. The ROP provides classes at 10 high schools, including: Bassett, La Puente, Los Altos, Wilson, Workman, Nogales and Rowland.

"We've had this partnership for over 30 years. The intent of the ROP is to pull together resources and serve students in a region, with no 'this district' or 'that district' or 'if you put in this much, you get this much services' talk," Fernandez said.

If HLPUSD makes good on its threat to leave, the ROP would have to cut classes, teachers and administration by almost two-thirds, Fernandez said. "We would only have teachers left from Rowland and Bassett," she said.

She said the situation is so serious it marks the first time the ROP has ever had to send out pink slips to all its teachers.

Hacienda La Puente has until June 30 to decide whether it should stay or go.

A memo sent by Tami L. Pearson, executive director of high schools for HLPUSD, to its ROP teachers, seemed to say the withdrawal motion was more like a sword it placed over the head of the ROP to get it to change its funding formulas. Once the ROP changes to a "more equitable distribution of funds in a formalized agreement," wrote Pearson, "the district will discuss the rescission of the letter of intent to withdraw prior to June, 2013. "

"It's about being fair," Parulan-Colfer said, adding: "We have no intention of getting rid of career-tech education. "